


A Strange Man Ahead

by MX_Reece



Series: Many people, More worlds, Mostly shenanigans [1]
Category: Hermitcraft RPF, Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Evolution
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-23 02:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21312553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MX_Reece/pseuds/MX_Reece
Summary: Grian wakes up somewhere new with grass in the sea, weird rocks and far too many flowers while the Hermits prepare to move worlds.
Series: Many people, More worlds, Mostly shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536409
Comments: 10
Kudos: 142





	1. Day Zero

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first real fanfic written, usually I write with my own characters and anyone saying that writing fanfic is easier since they're premade characters is just straight up wrong. Oof.

He lay there, peaceful on the grass. The particular spot was a hill close to a beach with a few trees around that shielded him from the sun and rustled their leaves in the light breeze, a sound that combined well with the lapping of the waves against sand. This is what Grian woke up to instead of his small hidey hole under Zee’s stairs where he had slept for the night on a whim, no this wasn’t that  _ At All _ .

Confused to say the least he pushed himself up to sitting position and looked out over the world, the sea and… its inhabitants? That’s strange, does? No, this is no time to get distracted by watery vegetation, exploring that could wait at least for a little bit.

“Now what have I done to deserve This..” That would be the first question and as he stood to examine the little island further the next, most pressing question, emerged.

“What kind of Prank is THIS?!” his arms spread wide to emphasize the scenery for his audience of none, or perhaps for his audience of pranksters if they were lurking somewhere nearby to see his reaction.

“And who’s done it as well??”

With no reaction or response in sight he sighed, pushing his hair back. By the suns position, the light and temperature he guessed that it would have to be morning, no doubt about it, and he must be really far from the spawn if he didn’t recognize the terrain... but he surely couldn’t be That far if someone had moved him manually while he was asleep. He massaged his temples, maybe this was just the Watchers taking the mick out of him for something.

Another frustrated sigh. Well! No use standing around here if he wanted to get back downtown at least.

He reached into his pockets for an axe to cut down the nearby trees for boat lumber but, well, this whole prank was getting just a bit too absurd. No, this can’t have been a prank, he decided, someone must have killed him and moved him somehow because no way would his inventory be empty otherwise.

Frustration bubbling dangerously close to anger he punched down the tree and spent only a moment's fascination with the look of the boat and its oars. Theories would run in his mind about who had done it and what had happened while he got used to the rowing. Someone could have killed him and thrown him into one of the Watchers portals, which would explain this weird boat but not where he spawned. It could just be the Watchers doing all of it, putting him contained in some foreign chunks of their design with ocean grass and weird boats…

The sun moved in the sky and Grians frustrations had turned to exhausted acceptance. He was lost through and through and unless his buddies or the Watchers came to save him he would probably have to spend the rest of his existence in this new piece of land which was all in all rather annoying, having to depend on the others to get him back.

His boat landed on shore and sank into the sand. New base to survive the night, priority one considering his lack of armor or weapons. 

Though… he had to admit that it was a little hard to concentrate as in front of him was terrain quite like no other. When he had made it to shore it was the little things, the grass in the water and the moving fish that also seemed to live there. It had been the weird new rocks in the ground all white and brown but it had been even smaller, when he picked a small red flower he assumed to be a rose.

Now in front of him there were what looked to him like a million flowers of different kinds, colors and shapes, some in small or large bushes and some purple ones that looked like a little ball on a green stick.

The thought came to him that when he had the resources maybe he could try to summon Taurtis to this part of the world. He had liked the yellow flower on the last platform but that had taken weeks to figure out and these… there were way too many flowers that he could like more and that could take YEARS to figure out!

Actually, on the other hand these flowers were way too much and could be dealt with later and more importantly it could be dealt with After that shelter and weapon he had just been thinking about. Time was ticking after all.

* * *

Xisuma had arrived to the community area far too early. No one would be here for hours most likely but if he were honest there was nothing left for him to do at his base that would be able to significantly change his life now. He had come to the community area to prepare the portal for tonight when they would be leaving this world and enter the sixth one to his count. But that had been worked on and with his Keeper duties now finished he had nothing to do but aimlessly wander the shopping area, taking in the sights of buildings and the jaw dropping terraforming that Scar had made, as if to try and preserve them in his memory even though he knew it to be an ultimately fruitless effort.

In the distance he could see a creeper light up and then be set alight by a flame enhanced weapon. Coming in to view he waved to the newly arrived hermit.

It would be a good new world, he could feel it.

* * *

Deciding to walk had been a mistake, Grian had come to realize. He had ‘fallen’ off a steep cliff and grumbling made it back to where his… modest… toolset had been, just in time to watch it disappear. What an insult to injury, this actually proper sucked now. He didn’t respawn in a bed, he had wasted time and it had already passed mid day. At this pace he would have to make a dirt hut or just a hole in the ground as shelter and he couldn’t have That be the first outpost in this new land.

* * *

“He’s been laying there since I got here, he hasn’t even blinked”

“That’s a bit worrying..”

Unless Grian was sleeping or really really busy he wasn’t really the kind of guy that wouldn’t answer his messages. Zee had wanted to ask if he had seen Pearls district yet and had been completely ignored prompting a long wander around downtown and spawn, he had even gone all of the way back to Grians old base before he had found him under the stairs. Since everyone else seemed to be busy he had called in Netty for a second opinion.

“Have you asked Taurtis? He might know if something happened”

Zee shook his head “I asked and he has no idea, I’m starting to wonder if it’s just that weird clone he has”

“But why would it need to sleep?” Netty interrupted. The clone had never really seemed to… need? Anything to survive? Zees face seemed to indicate that he agreed.

“I tried to snap him out of it but he seems dead set on this living dead thing”

* * *

He had been hearing things for a while now and it was starting to creep him out. It didn’t help much that he had found a nether portal that only seemed to add to the intermittent sounds and voices. These were new ones though, admittedly garbled by the portal but the ones he had heard before were from his friends, the ones he had assumed had pranked him while the ones from the portal where wholly unknown to him.

He had failed to find either Zee or Netty nearby and now with this cursed portal he couldn’t quite be sure if it was all in his head or not.

“ _ My friends, it’s time for upwards and onwards- _ ”

There it was again, he could just make it out from where he was standing while the rest was easily drowned out by the portals own sickly noise. How did it do that? The portals he had used before only seemed to do that when they were from the Watchers when it was time to ‘Evolve’ and even then he had only heard that it happened from the others.

And this couldn’t be a Watcher portal could it? There wasn’t an Evo sign anywhere near it-

He heard a clear “_Farewell_” said over the noise and without further warning over a dozen people spilled out of the tiny portal.

“Oh, my, goodness” was all he could say as he watched them cross the small distance between him and the portal and with glee one of the visitors replied;

“A strange man ahead!”


	2. One of many firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grians first week in the Hermitlands and last weeks of Evo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is technically the end of the fic but not the end of the story. The series continues from another perspective under a new fic name, the next I think will be from Scars perspective.
> 
> This is only the first act of a very long story.

Scar stumbled out of the now tiny portal and onto green grass, into the breeze and the smell of sea. It was refreshing! Not only due to the atmosphere but due to the feeling of a clean canvas, a new plan and world to work on together with his friends, closer together this time!

Behind him he heard an unfamiliar voice, turning him around on his heel, full of curiosity he found a blond person in a very large red sweater standing at the foot of the hill.

“A strange man ahead!”

The chatter within the group gained volume and those on the cliff facing side of the portal soon moved closer to this new hermit, to see him and to hear what he was saying. That was if he said anything at all.

-

Grian in his mind had now cemented the idea that this was something about the Watchers, something about them or something they’d done. The portal had been acting weird and now a lot of people had just flooded out of it with what seemed like no gear, no armour or equipment in their hands at least. Some of them were checking their pockets so that theory was confirmed as correct pretty quickly. 

He was frozen solid on the spot just blinking for a moment before taking a few considerable steps back but he had already been surrounded, a man in a suit and mustache to his right and he jumped when he noticed the man whose head was just a helmet that was stood behind him.

Two people had punched him before he had time to fully flee his body, seeing Netty and Taurtis for only a split second.

* * *

Zee had gone long ago to get water and more food, leaving Netty alone in the room under the stairs. She had sat there silent for a while, then talked to… at Grian, then stopped, it was a little silly to talk to yourself wasn’t it but what else was there to do when you were alone guarding a comatose body. After a while of Zee coming in and out of the nook she had asked Taurtis to come downtown as a constant conversation partner so she wouldn’t go mad, or at least not go mad alone. Taurtis was also the closest to Grian and easy to talk to under harsh circumstances and so, seemingly, the best choice.

“Maybe he was put in the downside up but his body went here” Taurtis said, it sounded like it should be a question but was notably not.

“The what?”

“The downside up! You know where everything is kind of purple and it looks like it’s raining grapes”

“Wha-”

Taurtis interrupted, continuing on with his thought process,

“So maybe Grians brain went through one of the portal jumps but backwards but his body stayed here” 

“Aaah..” The downside up must be what a world left behind by a jump looked like.

“But we can’t go back through the portals to ‘devolve’ can we.”

Taurtis nodded.

“Then he might just be sleeping” he smiled and Netty couldn’t help to become infected by it.

Grian blinked.

It shocked Netty who turned to look at him, the sudden movement making Tauris jump.

There was recognition in Grians eyes and then he was gone again, as fast as he had come.

* * *

X shooed the others away under the pretence of night coming soon, saying that they couldn’t just stand around here twiddling their thumbs, they’d all have the chance to meet the new hermit After everyone had means to survive the night.

“Hermit?” The new guy asked once most of the others had scattered to gather wood.

“That’s what we are yes” 

A pause.

“I’m Xisuma by the way”

“Grian..” he sounded a little confused which X couldn’t blame him for.

“How long have you been here then Grian?” He motioned for Grian to follow him, they would also need materials to survive the night after all.

“A few hours? I woke up on an island pretty far away Thaaa..t? way?” He gestured vaguely north west, obediently following Xisuma towards the edge of forest that some of the other hermits had already pillaged from.

X nodded and set to work on of the trees.

“That would be spawn then.”

There was a silent moment only filled with sounds of bark breaking and tools being crafted.

“And you’re the Leader of these hermits then?” Grians tone seemed almost accusatory when he spoke again, something he instantly regretted.

But Xisuma just laughed.

“No,” he started, “There’s no ‘Leader’ of the hermits”

X looked up, holding a newly crafted chest in his hands.

“But I am the Keeper of our worlds”

* * *

It had been a few days now and his self diagnosed ‘condition’ had stabilized considerably even though it was still uncontrollable. He could almost feel it coming now, like there was fog in his brain and he had told the Evolutioners as much when he was forced to explain what had happened to him.

He had of course lied though about the rest.

-

When he came back to where he should have been Netty and Taurtis were talking about something he couldn’t hear well enough to understand and when he tried to focus they had already moved onto a new topic, the one where him being awake again was at the center.

Netty had lightly slapped him and lovingly berated him over worrying everybody to death while Taurtis had started firing off questions about what had happened, less out of worry and more out of what he assumed to be curiosity or a desire to have his theories confirmed. But Grian didn’t registered most of the theories, his eyes burned and his vision was blurry, he felt like he was dying.

They had taken care of him, given him water and food to regain himself. After that and after collecting his thoughts he first told the group of Zee, Taurtis and Netty what he would later, but not that much later, tell everyone else that had learned of the incident through the global chat.

“It was like the whole world was tinted purple and had enderman particles flying around everywhere” he had said, trying to remember what Taurtis had told him the Downside Up looked like. 

“That’s the downside up!” He had predictably exclaimed while Netty and Zee had taken on confused and somewhat shocked faces.

“But how could your body be here then?” Netty had asked, more the room than Grian in particular. He responded anyways.

“I assume I did something that the watchers didn’t think was ‘right’”

“Oh have you been naughty again!?”

Grian laughed at that.

The others theorised as well when he told them, for a couple of days the community was buzzing with ideas and jokes about what Grian had done to deserve the downside up. 

And then everything went back to normal.

Grian couldn’t be seen around as much anymore though, he would work on some projects then disappear, when the other Evolutionists asked he said it was residual damage, that he would zone out and back into an old version but that he was handling it fine, it just needed time.

Everyone was worried of course but what could they do but feel useless trying to help.

* * *

X pulled out a map and rolled it out over a rudimentary table and pointed to places on the island.

“That’s where we’re planning on putting a shopping area, Ren, False and Tango are setting up over here”

“Ren’s the one with the fringe and hat without the eye thing right?”

It took a moment to register and for X to burst out laughing.

“That’s the one! I think he’s cleaned himself up now though”

“That was short lived” He sighed, another identifying marker of who was who lost.

“Usually he’ll be wearing red but if you want a truly unique marker then he’s the one with the dog ears”

“The WhAT??” 

“Oh! Did you not have wolves where you came from??” Xisuma looked at him, trying to find another way to explain Rendog.

“No... No we do-did” He quickly corrected.

“I didn’t think a person could have those Parts though” He hadn’t seen any dog ears on anyone at the portal? But the guy did wear a hat, he could have missed them too amongst all the other frankly overwhelming stimulus that day.

X nodded, chuckling lightly.

“I guess all of us have just gotten used to it, now that I think about it it must look bizarre.” There was a distinct smile and playfulness in his voice as if it was funny and peculiar that he had never noticed it before.

“What’s over here?” Grian pointed to a part of the map, the eastern coast and area under the shopping district.

“That would be the futuristic district, Biffa and Mumbo will be around that area I think”

Grian couldn’t remember which one Biffa was between the two red themed people, maybe it was the blond one? Mumbo he remembered tho! The man's facial hair was something he would never be able to forget, they hadn’t spoken yet but Mumbo had that air of friendliness like an old friend would have. That thin vague feeling that said that they would be good friends.

“Aw I no good at futuristic builds, there’s never any good blocks for it”

“Have you played around with concrete before?”

* * *

**Hermitcraft Recap** is what the text on the communicator screen read, in bold and fonted letters.

“This week! On hermitcraft” the voice begun over a compilation of clips and piano music.

“Season six Has Begun!” He continued.

“The Rules have been changed! And Iskall called a drowned a phantom like hardcore hermits taught him nothing-”

A voiced clip of Iskall had been spliced in as proof of the claim.

“Oh and Grian’s here**Welcome!** To the Hermitcraft recap! Today looking at the first week in the new lands.” 

“My name is Pixelrifs and our writer is ZloyXP-“

Mumbo closed the newsletter and looked at Grian whos face conveyed both clear confusion and hints of shock, like a billion questions had hijacked his brain all at once and were shutting down all other brain functions until an answer had been given.

“Right so this might help you with names and blocks and.. y’know.. New Stuff”

Mumbo smoothed his already smooth hair down, waiting for Grian to say something but his eyes seemed to stare at nothing, through the space where the letter had been and through the ground and earth that had been behind it.

“Are you alright?” He put a hand on his friends shoulder and felt him tense, jumping at the touch. Mumbo recoiled with a swift “sorry”, holding his hand closer to his chest now.

Grian was there now at least, calming down before he spoke.

“It’s pretty weird that your Watchers don’t rhyme” 

“Our WhaT?”


End file.
